S.T. Joshi , your " Providence friends " say hello . And deeply appreciate your life long H.P. Lovecraft scholarship . Really intelligent people are above flattery, of course , but ALL your writing is brilliant . Sad to see the H.P. Lovecraft award trophy the victim of WOKE cancellation. Best wishes, Ron ( from Observatory Ave. stay ).
Lovecrafts stories can be read every 12 months and enjoyed just as much. Each time they're just as good because the joy is in the journey of his writings not necessarily the conclusion. Even Eldritch horror the co-op board game is so immersive and evocative of the 20s and 30s. You really feel that your team is up against almost impossible odds and the rare times you win, it's really satisfying. By far the best of that type. Unfortunately the religiously indoctrinated people that would benefit the most from reading Lovecraft are the ones who are least likely to! I love the feeling that you're in on something special that most people don't understand. Cthulhu ftaghn!
speaking of lovecraftian movies a movie called the void is one of the best lovecraftian cosmic horror movies iv ever seen it had everything in it that makes me love lovecraft its on Netflix
The problem with The Void and Lovecraft is that the movie didn't take the the HPL influence farther along. It does touch on the same horror but not having an "increased" sense of such horror. Still an enjoyable watch. :)
Just on the off chance you check your comments, I'm currently writing a dissertation on Lovecraft so if you had the source of this reference it'd be very helpful? Thanks
Thanks, I haven't seen "The Last Wave", but will check it out. I think HPL films should be at least made by someone, who shares his worldview. Del Toro is more like a geek, who just likes everything "cool". A guy, who in the interviews says stuff like "every morning we wake up and must choose between love and fear" surely has nothing in common with HPL.
I have to disagree with that. Yes, Del Toro has a humanistic worldview, but he understood the indifference of Lovecraft. Watch Fear of the Unknown, and you'll hear what Del Toro has to say.
@@JHParee Del Toro is just a normie "antifa geek" cliche and like Pyro said, his stuff is just general geek culture worship, his work hasn't really appealed to me outside of Pan's Labyrinth which I liked for its design and dark fairytale setting. He's a "safe leftie", that's clear in his works and his pointless comments about Lovecraft being "a product of his time", which doesn't explain anything, and like Paree says above, he makes no effort to understand Lovecraft's philosophy, his fears, his disdain for humanity as a whole and the insignificance of it in his eyes. John Carpenter is pretty faithful to his visions, he was good at balancing the satire and semi-serious nature of gothic and classic horror with the hard hitting social commentary and anti-establishment views, and paranoia as evident in the Thing and They Live...
Given there's a huge cult following of HP Lovecraft, and it had a clear effect on the 80s and 90s generation of readers, including prominent critics like Thomas Ligotti (Conspiracy against the human race) - However the style of writing, or say scope of imagination, in terms of text is but boring, aggrandized and leaning on the same supernatural darkness of things unknown .. So what is so great about HP Lovecraft's books, remains unclear, other than the joy of some superunknown superevil superdark ooooooo !!??
Joshi is good until he injects his own leftism and atheism into understanding Lovecraft. Lovecraft, like so many atheists, was so primarily because his life was a series of disasters: his dad had syphilis, his mom was cold and unloving, his grandad died nearly broke, and his mom repressed him and died in surgery after suffering complications from syphilis too. Obvious.
It runs deeper than that. He read stories about paganism, Greece, Rome, and discovered astronomy which gave him the cosmic view that he always shared with his correspondents and tried to inject into his stories. He was a child when he became an atheist. Also, his mother died from a botched gall bladder operation.
HPL had some rough breaks, for sure, but that's just a gross simplification of how he came to his cosmic, atheist world view. Unfortunately HPL couldn't seem to cut loose of his racism and xenophobia, which I'm, having been into HPL and horror fiction from a very young age in the later 1970s-early 80s, still assuming was mainly due to his upbringing and surroundings, as much as anything, like many people of his background in those days. It's disappointing and disturbing, but that's what the deal is. A lot of authors from the time, and previously, even Poe, were racists, or may have held racist/xenophobic views. A lot of people have rough lives and aren't atheists, necessarily. c'mon.
Scott Briggs the racism was inherited, to be sure. But keep in mind that he only held traditional world views because they were the most comforting to him. They didn’t have to be shared with other people. He knew that the cosmos doesn’t care a whiff what happens to us. There really is no point to existence other than what you made of it. For him, the dependence on tradition and familiarity was what kept him living. But he was all too aware of the indifference of the cosmos. That still doesn’t make it right that he was an insanely bigoted man. But we can’t change that.
@@itstimeforlee same in Germany. I know a few christians, but they are christians in name only. In the sense, that they go to church on christmas and easter, but have never read a single page of the bible, and can't distinguish between Moses and Noah...
There are plenty of atheists not created by a series of personal disasters...likewise plenty of Christians are not (contrary to overwhelming evidence) general fuck ups.
S.T. Joshi , your " Providence friends " say hello . And deeply appreciate your life long H.P. Lovecraft scholarship . Really intelligent people are above flattery, of course , but ALL your writing is brilliant . Sad to see the H.P. Lovecraft award trophy the victim of WOKE cancellation. Best wishes, Ron ( from Observatory Ave. stay ).
Excellent interview; S T is always worth listening to. His appearance in Providence was wonderful.
I love hearing S.T. Joshi.
this guy gets H.P. Lovecraft way better than his contemporaries could ever capture.
Lovecrafts stories can be read every 12 months and enjoyed just as much. Each time they're just as good because the joy is in the journey of his writings not necessarily the conclusion. Even Eldritch horror the co-op board game is so immersive and evocative of the 20s and 30s. You really feel that your team is up against almost impossible odds and the rare times you win, it's really satisfying. By far the best of that type. Unfortunately the religiously indoctrinated people that would benefit the most from reading Lovecraft are the ones who are least likely to! I love the feeling that you're in on something special that most people don't understand. Cthulhu ftaghn!
I love listening to Joshi talk about lovecraft
me too im reading the third book of lovecraft bio in italian language but also try to study american english and listen his videos help me.
This was wonderful. Thank you.
Seen this guy in the comic Providence, good stuff.
33:25, lol S.T. Joshi said a funny point there, His prose was wealthy, but was published in cheap paper.
speaking of lovecraftian movies a movie called the void is one of the best lovecraftian cosmic horror movies iv ever seen it had everything in it that makes me love lovecraft its on Netflix
The problem with The Void and Lovecraft is that the movie didn't take the the HPL influence farther along. It does touch on the same horror but not having an "increased" sense of such horror. Still an enjoyable watch. :)
Great wow
Nyarlathotep seems the most likely to consciously fuck with us as human beings.
Very intresting
Guilmero del Toro to make Mountain of Madness.. oh yeah!
I wonder if ST has read Alhazred by Donald Tyson. Would love to know his opinion of it.
He has, and praised it very very highly. I got myself a copy based off his thumbs up for it.
WarlockofWords Channel nice. Good to know
Just on the off chance you check your comments, I'm currently writing a dissertation on Lovecraft so if you had the source of this reference it'd be very helpful? Thanks
Sorry I don't check comments frequently, but I am the source of this interview.
He didn’t see any photo.
We must not let Del Toro make Lovecraft adaptations.
I agree with this 100 percent. Mountains of Madness is better not made. Hes a rubber monster man. "the last wave" is great.
Thanks, I haven't seen "The Last Wave", but will check it out. I think HPL films should be at least made by someone, who shares his worldview. Del Toro is more like a geek, who just likes everything "cool". A guy, who in the interviews says stuff like "every morning we wake up and must choose between love and fear" surely has nothing in common with HPL.
Nonnsense. Let the man have a go at Lovecraft.
I have to disagree with that. Yes, Del Toro has a humanistic worldview, but he understood the indifference of Lovecraft. Watch Fear of the Unknown, and you'll hear what Del Toro has to say.
@@JHParee Del Toro is just a normie "antifa geek" cliche and like Pyro said, his stuff is just general geek culture worship, his work hasn't really appealed to me outside of Pan's Labyrinth which I liked for its design and dark fairytale setting. He's a "safe leftie", that's clear in his works and his pointless comments about Lovecraft being "a product of his time", which doesn't explain anything, and like Paree says above, he makes no effort to understand Lovecraft's philosophy, his fears, his disdain for humanity as a whole and the insignificance of it in his eyes.
John Carpenter is pretty faithful to his visions, he was good at balancing the satire and semi-serious nature of gothic and classic horror with the hard hitting social commentary and anti-establishment views, and paranoia as evident in the Thing and They Live...
Hey G
He lost me at his "stupidity watch' bullshit.
Given there's a huge cult following of HP Lovecraft, and it had a clear effect on the 80s and 90s generation of readers, including prominent critics like Thomas Ligotti (Conspiracy against the human race) - However the style of writing, or say scope of imagination, in terms of text is but boring, aggrandized and leaning on the same supernatural darkness of things unknown .. So what is so great about HP Lovecraft's books, remains unclear, other than the joy of some superunknown superevil superdark ooooooo !!??
why does ST Joshi sound likes he is having a seizure, with his huuuuhuhhuuhhuu!!!!!!!
Joshi is good until he injects his own leftism and atheism into understanding Lovecraft. Lovecraft, like so many atheists, was so primarily because his life was a series of disasters: his dad had syphilis, his mom was cold and unloving, his grandad died nearly broke, and his mom repressed him and died in surgery after suffering complications from syphilis too. Obvious.
It runs deeper than that. He read stories about paganism, Greece, Rome, and discovered astronomy which gave him the cosmic view that he always shared with his correspondents and tried to inject into his stories. He was a child when he became an atheist. Also, his mother died from a botched gall bladder operation.
HPL had some rough breaks, for sure, but that's just a gross simplification of how he came to his cosmic, atheist world view. Unfortunately HPL couldn't seem to cut loose
of his racism and xenophobia, which I'm, having been into HPL and horror fiction from a very young age in the later 1970s-early 80s, still assuming was mainly due to his
upbringing and surroundings, as much as anything, like many people of his background in those days. It's disappointing and disturbing, but that's what the deal is. A lot of
authors from the time, and previously, even Poe, were racists, or may have held racist/xenophobic views. A lot of people have rough lives and aren't atheists, necessarily. c'mon.
Scott Briggs the racism was inherited, to be sure. But keep in mind that he only held traditional world views because they were the most comforting to him. They didn’t have to be shared with other people. He knew that the cosmos doesn’t care a whiff what happens to us. There really is no point to existence other than what you made of it. For him, the dependence on tradition and familiarity was what kept him living. But he was all too aware of the indifference of the cosmos. That still doesn’t make it right that he was an insanely bigoted man. But we can’t change that.
@@itstimeforlee same in Germany. I know a few christians, but they are christians in name only. In the sense, that they go to church on christmas and easter, but have never read a single page of the bible, and can't distinguish between Moses and Noah...
There are plenty of atheists not created by a series of personal disasters...likewise plenty of Christians are not (contrary to overwhelming evidence) general fuck ups.